A daily dose of fashion, décor, snacks and life from our Nation’s Capital

Menu

Jewelry

Just wanted to include a link to brighten your day. Design Sponge, one of the best fashion blogs around in my opinion, does a segment called “Living In” where they showcase classic movies and fashions inspired by them. The movies are wonderful and the “inspired by” fashions are even more so. I obviously covet the idea. Here are some summer movies and links:

I have a soft spot in my heart for costume jewelry. I really do. Bold necklaces, clip on earrings, statement pieces that people like Rita Hayworth could wear the living hell out of, like this:

Sigh. If only I looked like that. Because you see, although I love costume jewelry, I rarely wear it. I know, I should carpe my style or whatnot, but it’s just that my head is SO small and spherical. I’m serious. It’s literally like a PERFECT sphere. A tennis ball. So when you put a massive necklace on the neck of a tennis ball, it looks ridiculous.

(Oh, and for those of you that say “no SPY, Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s had a small head and wore that massive necklace.” Look. The smallness of the head was balanced by the height of the hair and we all know I’m not going to beehive it and go to Cosi. It’s not halloween)

However, at Legendary Beast on U Street I felt at ease trying on ridiculous things. Part of it was the $8.50 bin, which was front, center and easily accessible. Part of it was the massive amount of inventory, which reminded me of my mom’s/ grandmother’s jewelry box times 5000, like this:

And part of it, a large part of it in fact, was the owner. Anne Fox, who owns Legendary Beast, was previously the longstanding owner of Meeps, the Adams Morgan vintage stronghold before she moved on to jewelry. Fox has a wonderfully dry wit, knows her vintage pieces inside and out, and leaves you to browse as you please. It’s overall very relaxing, as the hunt should be.

Legendary Beast is only open from 12-5 on the weekends, including Friday, so such limited hours should attract hipsters. It’s mostly pre-WWII pieces, with a lot of inventory coming from the rust belt days of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, places near and dear to my heart. For the mens you have cufflinks and apartment odds and ends, many of which are spiritual in nature. However, in all honesty, this is place for the womens. And it is a wonderful place indeed. Visit.

OK. So I haven’t really done a fashion post in awhile. Mostly because I haven’t really been BUYING things. Not enough benjamins at the moment. However, last week I did manage to snag these:

Cute no? The sandals I mean. They are gladiator, a blue and gray that is much more vivid than it appears via my canon elf. They are from Redeem boutique on 14th street. LOVE. Reminds me a good deal of Diesel but with more variety. Talked to the salesguy, he used to work at Diesel. Makes sense. A lot of zippers, draped tops, blue/black/gray/white/purple type of color palette, industrial, tailored jackets for the mens. Designers are from all over: New York, London, Korea, Canada etc. Also, unlike other boutiques, this one is half menswear. Some beautiful shots:

Ok kids. The Best of DC results are in. Now, last time some DC results were in (i.e. my James Beard post), I thought I would get all bloggery and say “hey readers, let me know your thoughts!!” You know, because that’s what blogs do.

Yeah. You all failed. Basically, none of you commented except for empire state elitist who did not comment on the restaurants at all and instead talked about how much DC food sucks. Way to snark up the comments section. ANYWAYS, learning from my mistakes, I have highlighted some of the Best of DC winners, MY thoughts, and could effing care less if you comment. take THAT…

SO. I was browsing around Treasury the other day and loved this little ring I saw. After talking to the Treasury folks, I found out the ring was part of Lithics, Treasury’s own new line of rings made from vintage casts, shown here:

Lithics by Treasury (I was eyeing the third one)

Treasury rescued the little ring molds. They were set to be melted down for scrap metal when Treasury took them. Yes. Scrap metal. Could you imagine? Anyways, this is the best shopping situation possible. You buy something pretty (ring) and in doing so are saving something that would have been wasted. Win-win. Its recycling in its easiest form. Which is, at its heart, what vintage is anyways. They run between $85-110, which isn’t cheap, but would be way marked up elsewhere (looking at you NYC). Buy them.

OH. Update #2. Sources tell me “Best of DC” has a best cupcake category. Now, I am not telling you to ban it (as maybe all the losers will get disheartened and start baking other things), but if you just “forgot to vote” or “accidentally commented that the cupcake market is saturated” I wouldn’t be upset. Throwing it out there.

As you will gather from this blog, I am often lazy. There are some days when I wake up, want to go thrift shopping in my mind, go out to the store, get immediately overwhelmed by the amount of digging, the idea of trying on a million things, the hipsterness (or homelessness, depending how thrift you go) of surrounding people, my desire to eat a croissant aaand… I give up. Just like that, I walk in and walk out. I know, I’m a blogger and should be more carpe diem. But meh, I work a 9 to 5 and weekends are precious, precious things

ANYWAYS, Junction and Treasury Vintage have solved my problem. For a lazy person wanting to score that awesome item and only look through a manageable number of edited racks, they are small, beautiful, and reasonably priced (think vintage, not thrift). Both stores have clothes, jewelry, handbags, and a rack or two of menswear, so you can drag some sad male companion along with you. Here are some photos….

Junction

Treasury

Junction is classic retro vintage while Treasury is a bit all over the map, stocking clothes, jewelry and, per their website, curios. Yeah. I don’t know what a curio is, but I kind of want one. Reminds me of an antique children’s toy or a 1930s circus souvenir. After buying your curio, you can stop by café Saint Ex, have a muffin of the day, shop around, go home, take a nap, and (assuming your curio doesn’t come to life and kill you in your sleep), go out for the evening. Perfect afternoon.

I love jewelry. I also love things that are small. I also love things that are random, shiny, semi-precious and bird-themed. I know, I know, I had you until the bird thing, but I will give you a pass for this. I can’t say I understand it, because owls and quails and buntings and tanagers are adorable, but so it goes. Anyways, I digress. These necklaces are amazing… (more photos after the jump)